A wonderful documentary, “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes” is recommended!
DIGITAL HD TITLE:Â The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
DOCUMENTARY YEAR: 2018
RUN TIME: 123 Minutes
COMPANY: Kino Lorber
Release Date: April 7, 2020
Directed by Alison Reid
Written by Alison Reid
Produced by Joanne Jackson, Alison Reid
Executive Producer: Paul Zimic
Music by Tom Third
Cinematography by Dale Hidlebrand, Lainie Knox, Iris Ng
Edited by Mark Arcieri, Caroline Christie, Mike Munn
Casting by Carla Hool, Natalie Lyon, Kevin Reher
Costume Design by Anne Dixon
Starring and featuring following voice talent:
Anne Innis Dagg
Tatiana Maslany as the voice of Young Anne
Victor Gaber as the voice of Alex Matthew
Lindsay Leese as voice of Anne’s Mother
David Chinchilla as voice of Ian Dagg
John Doherty
Lisa Clifton-Bumpass
Amy Phelps
Sandy Middleton
Mary Dagg
Francois Deacon
Fred Bercovitch
Jacob Leaidura
Jason Pootolal
Andy Tutchings
Zoe Muller
Gareth Chamberlain
“In 1956, four years before Jane Goodall ventured into the world of chimpanzees and seven years before Dian Fossey left to work with mountain gorillas, 23-year-old biologist Anne Innis Dagg made an unprecedented solo journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild. When she returned home a year later, the insurmountable barriers she faced
as a female scientist proved hard to overcome. In The Woman Who Loves Giraffes Anne (now 86) retraces her steps, offering an intimate window into her life as a young woman, juxtaposed with a first-hand look at the devastating reality that giraffes are facing today. Anne and the species she loves have each experienced triumphs as well as setbacks. The Woman Who Loves Giraffes gives us a moving perspective on both.”
The following review is the Digital HD version that was presented to me by Kino Lorber. This is NOT the Blu-ray version.
Zoologist Anne Innis Dagg is a zoologist well known for her books on giraffes including the popular book “Pursuing Giraffe: A 1950’s Adventure”.
Back in the ’50s, Dagg was seen as a pioneer in studying animal behavior in the wild and was teh first to study wild giraffes.
But despite having published 60 refereed scientific papers and was an accomplished zoologist, she was denied tenure at the University of Guelph in 1972, despite her wonderful academic achievement and research record. This was during a time when women were discriminated and even for another position at another university, she was told there was no point for her to pursue the position because she had a family and husband to support.
But years away from her career in zoology, Dagg would be recognized for her books and in 2019 was recently named an Honorary Member of the Canadian Society of zoologist in recognition of her contributions to Canadian Zoology.
To spotlight the career and accomplishments of Anne Innis Dagg, filmmaker Alison Reid would create a documentary titled “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes” (2018). A document which highlights Dagg’s career (covering her published works as a zoologist and feminist), the denial of her tenure at the university, her family, the lack of global attention to giraffes and the redemption of being recognized today by her younger peers who grew up with reading her books and being honored for her work and what happens when she had the opportunity to visit Africa to observe giraffes again.
Watching Alison Reid’s “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes”, you can’t help but be saddened but also happy to see how one of the pioneers of writing about wild giraffes, zoologist Anne Innis Dagg, being recognized for her work in the present.
Sure, the world knows about Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, but Anne Innis Dagg should be in that conversation because of her work writing about wild giraffes, but also touching on her accomplished career, to see her opportunity to be tenured nullified because she was a woman.
It’s become common when you watch documentary of a person who fought hard for their careers and beliefs but being recognized post-posthumously, in the case of Anne Innis Dagg, I’m so happy to see her being recognized for her work, but also to see a documentary about her life and so much of the documentary featuring the real Anne.
You can hear the sadness in her voice when discussing the turmoil of not being tenured, despite having written many papers, more than other competitors, who were male, and despite her accomplishments, she was pushed out because she was a woman.
To see Anne Innis Dagg discriminated because she was a woman is absolutely disappointing but its because of that accomplished career, there were those zoologist today, that were inspired by Dagg’s written work, especially on giraffes which gave her anther opportunity.
From being recognized for her work today, to going to Africa once again to observe how much has changed with the observance of giraffes and how their populations are dwindling, but to also use the opportunity to correct things in her book from the ’50s and release an update to it.
While I’m happy to see Dagg being recognized, especially in this documentary, I’m glad to see how Alison Reid ended the documentary on a strong note and seeing how Dagg felt about taking part of a feminist march and reflecting how things were in the 50’s and how things are today and being part of that.
A wonderful documentary, “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes” is recommended!